“Love Letters from Shakespeare: A Night of Music, Dance and Sonnets” will be performed Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 14-16, at 7:30 p.m. in the MSU McComas Theatre. General admission is $10, and tickets can be purchased online from the departmental website at www.comm.msstate.edu/dept/theatre/ or at the door. Previews of upcoming performances and galleries of past Theatre MSU plays also are highlighted on the new Facebook page accessible through the department’s site above.

It has been said that Shakespeare’s Sonnets bring us a world of meaning—its joys and sorrows and its passions and torments—set to some of the most beautiful English ever written. “What would it be like if you staged a sonnet?” is the basis of this production. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Educational Program at the American Shakespeare Center, the production is exploring this idea. Taking selected and well-known sonnets and dealing with themes of time, beauty and mortality, the presentation frames various topics of love during this “season of the love.” Original music composed by MSU music majors, dance presented by MSU’s Terpsichore Dance Theatre Company, narration by Dr. Robert Wolverton and Dr. Nancy Hargrove, and singing by Dr. Guy Hargrove accompanied by Dr. Michael Patilla tie these powerful rhythms together and guide audience members through the evening.

At the conclusion of each night’s performance, MSU scholars will lead discussions on the various themes of love and the place of the sonnet throughout literature.

“Love Letters” is the beginning of several days of activities under the auspices of the MSU Institute for the Humanities entitled Shakespeare: From Page to Stage. These activities include February displays at the Starkville Public Library and at MSU’s Colvard Student Center; Starkville Academy art students’ Renaissance exhibit at the Greater Starkville Convention & Visitors Bureau; workshops led by actors from the American Shakespeare Center for high school students scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 21, in Starkville and in Columbus; MSU and EMCC workshops scheduled for Feb. 22; and a performance of “Twelfth Night” by the American Shakespeare Center scheduled for Feb. 22. The “Twelfth Night” performance is part of MSU’s Lyceum Series and a Cross College Research Award through the MSU Office of Research and Economic Development. The displays and workshops are free and open to all, space permitting. Please contact Dr. Donna L. Clevinger, communication professor, for further information at dlc64@comm.msstate.edu or 662-325-4034.